News Links | December 20, 2016

System News | Opinion

Skagit Valley College women’s basketball player Deidra Miller had her older sister drop by one day to take
in a Cardinals practice. Though siblings attending practice is usually nothing out
of the ordinary, Desiree Miller’s visit was special. As the 29-year-old sat in her
wheelchair, the Skagit Valley College players gathered around to get a look at — and
to hold — Miller’s gold medal for the 2016 Paralympic Games.Skagit Valley Herald, Dec. 19, 2016

What is domestic abuse? Is it exclusively physical violence? Is it considered domestic
violence if one person verbally manipulates or criticizes the other? Physically follows
them? Demands oversight of their social accounts? Students and faculty at Bellevue College are now pondering those questions through a growing partnership with local domestic
violence organization LifeWire. As the college grows, the two entities are pushing
more people to be active bystanders in cases of sexual assault and dating violence.Bellevue Reporter, Dec. 19, 2016

Hundreds of people visit the Governor’s mansion during December to get a glimpse of
the residence adorned with twinkling lights, elaborate floral arrangements and larger-than-life
wreaths. But the creative vision for the décor comes from a place many visitors don’t
expect: prison. Six inmates at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW)
, visited the mansion Dec. 1 to decorate it in preparation for its annual holiday
tours, which run every Wednesday in December prior to Christmas. Inmates who decorate
the mansion are enrolled in or have completed a college level floriculture class taught
at the prison by instructors at Tacoma Community College. It’s one of several education programs offered through the Department of Corrections
aimed at reducing recidivism rates by giving inmates job skills, technical training
and opportunities to continue their education after releasing from prison.Corrections, Dec. 19, 2016

Last week’s Clover Park Technical College Board of Trustees meeting proved to be a special evening for a pair of CPTC faculty
members, as the Board awarded tenure to Nursing instructor David Bahrt and Running
Start counselor Kevin Kildun.The Suburban Times, Dec. 19, 2016

Palencia Wine Co. of Walla Walla and Bartholomew Winery of Seattle will both make
Kennewick their headquarters after being selected to move into Columbia Gardens Urban
Wine and Artisan Village. ... Palencia, born in Michoacan, Mexico, is a U.S. citizen
who grew up around agriculture in Prosser, where he helped his father, a farmworker.
He studied wine making at Walla Walla Community College’s Institute for Enology & Viticulture and was among the first to enroll in a hands-on
program where students tend vines for College Cellars. ... Additional phases will
bring more space for tasting rooms, restaurants and other visitor amenities. Columbia Basin College intends to construct a culinary education center at Columbia Gardens as well, its
first venture into Kennewick.Tri-City Herald, Dec. 18, 2016

Northwest Innovations has announced it will back a multi-million dollar program to
train hard-to-employ workers and recent high school graduates with the skills needed
to its proposed $1 billion methanol plant in Kalama. The educational program, which
does not yet has a name, is being developed in partnership with Lower Columbia College and Workforce Southwest Washington, the partners announced Friday. It will ensure
that 20 percent of Northwest’s initial workforce of about 200 people will be made
up of adults and young people who may have difficulty finding a job traditionally.Longview Daily News, Dec. 17, 2016

The unveiling this week of plans for an eventual Clark College campus in Ridgefield serves as a reminder of the important role community colleges
will play in the future of the state. While lawmakers next year will ponder how to
pay for basic education from kindergarten through high school, they also must pay
heed to the state’s 34 community and technical colleges. Such institutions are an
important conduit between the populace and the good-paying, career-path jobs that
are expected to be burgeoning throughout the state.The Columbian, Dec. 16, 2016

In the early days of her career, Evelyn Nagornyy has already faced obstacles on her
path to fulfill her dream of working on the pit crew for a racing team. But thanks
to a donation from Dick Hannah Dealerships, buying a tool kit will not be one of them. Nagornyy,
a first-year student in Clark College’s automotive technology program, and other students enrolled in the school’s Dick Hannah
Initiative for Technician Education at Clark College, received basic tool kits valued
at $4,000. College President Bob Knight and Dick Hannah, founder and owner of Dick
Hannah Dealerships, presented gleaming red tool kits to the students in a brief ceremony
at the college’s automotive shop.The Columbian, Dec. 16, 2016

Leaders of Edmonds Community College are smiling this week as Gov. Jay Inslee embraced funding for the construction of
a new building on campus. Inslee penciled $37.8 million into his proposed capital
budget for the Science, Engineering and Technology Building, a long-pursued project
that is the top construction priority of the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.Everett Herald, Dec. 16, 2016

The billions of dollars Gov. Jay Inslee wants to put into schools through new tax
sources would benefit pre-school students in addition to kindergarten through 12th
grade. Inslee wants to expand the state’s low-income preschool program by another
2,700 students. ... Just over 10 percent of the students suffer from developmental
delays and receive specialized counseling and therapy under ECEAP, according to the
state’s Department of Early Learning. That number is more than 35 percent in the classrooms
used by ECEAP program at South Puget Sound Community College in Tumwater.KING 5, Dec. 16, 2016

Architects are still working on design options for the new professional-technical
program building at Big Bend Community College. The design became the subject of a community meeting in late November, after it
looked like at least one program, aviation mechanics, might be better served by staying
in its current location at the edge of Grant County International Airport. The new
building will be built across the street from the ATEC building on Bolling Avenue.
There’s not enough room at the new site for the planes that have been donated to the
aviation mechanics program, which include a four-engine passenger jet.Columbia Basin Herald, Dec. 16, 2016

The new addition to the Cross Kirkland Corridor (CKC) draws heavily from its past
as a BNSF railroad. “The Spikes,” a sculpture created by Kirkland artist Merrily Dicks,
is made entirely of railroad spikes collected by area residents from the corridor.
... Dicks, who is known for her abstract paintings, took welding classes at Lake Washington Institute of Technology to help her figure out the technical aspects of bringing her idea for the sculpture
to life. “It was a lot like a puzzle,” she said of figuring out how to create “The
Spikes.”Kirkland Reporter, Dec. 16, 2016

After a two-month delay in receiving the final mechanisms needed for the clock tower
at Centralia College, the finishing touches to the new structure were completed on Wednesday. The iconic
clock tower sat mostly finished for a few months. All it was missing was the four
clock faces. Now, the clock tower stands 10 feet taller than its predecessor, at a
little over 40 feet.Centralia Chronicle, Dec. 15, 2016

A variety of men incarcerated for an assortment of reasons have developed bonds with
dogs through a program that is proving to be mutually beneficial. Ten residents at
Larch Corrections Center, in Yacolt, are participating in the second installment of
a pet training camp for the Humane Society for Southwest Washington dog adoption program.
... During Silva’s two years at Larch, he has taken small business classes offered
by Clark College. He has also graduated from an automotive repair program.Camas-Washougal Post-Record, Dec. 15, 2016

The holiday season can be a difficult time for low-income families, and that can especially
be true for Clover Park Technical College students devoting valuable time and resources to their education in an effort to
improve their long-term situation. Because of this great need, CPTC has carried on
a longstanding Holiday House tradition of “adopting” students’ families for the holiday
season. Since the 1980s, CPTC faculty, staff, students and community members have
generously provided food, toys and gifts to the families of students in need.The Suburban Times, Dec. 15, 2016

Community Colleges of Spokane plans to start construction next spring on a major renovation and expansion project
at its main gym and adjacent athletic facilities on the Spokane Falls Community College campus, in northwest Spokane.Spokane Journal of Business, Dec. 15, 2016

Trends | Horizons | Education

A college degree remains the safest ticket to a well-paying job. But growth in the
wage gap between degree holders and people without a college credential has slowed
since the 1980s, with almost no gain since 2010. The National Bureau of Economic Research
has published a new study that examines two theories for why increases in the higher
education “wage premium” have largely ground to a halt.Inside Higher Ed, Dec. 20, 2016

Overall college enrollments declined 1.4 percent this fall compared to one year ago,
according to new data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, a dip
of more than 270,000 students. Nationwide enrollments began their slide in 2012 and
have now continued for the last 10 consecutive college terms. The biggest drop this
fall was in the for-profit sector, which saw a 14.5 percent decline. Community colleges
experienced a 2.6 percent decline. Enrollments were down slightly (0.6 percent) at
four-year private institutions and up a small amount (0.2 percent) at four-year public
institutions.Inside Higher Ed, Dec. 19, 2016

Lynn Pasquerella, the new president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities,
stopped by The Chronicle’s offices last week to talk about the best way to make the
case for liberal education.The Chronicle of Higher Education, Dec. 19, 2016

Thirty universities across the nation — including the University of Washington — have
pledged to do more to get strong students from lower-income families into top colleges
and universities. The American Talent Initiative, as the effort is called, follows
on the heels of recent studies that show many low- and middle-income students with
top grades don’t end up enrolling in the nation’s top universities. That’s because
they’re less likely to be surrounded by people who attended selective colleges, and
they don’t think about applying to those schools. And while selective schools often
have high tuition costs, many low-income students would qualify for generous financial
aid.The Seattle Times, Dec. 19, 2016

Wage data are a key part of the bipartisan push to give prospective students more
information about the value of a college credential. But measures of graduates’ earnings
can be of limited use to the large number of people who lack choices about where to
go to college. That’s the central finding of a new study from researchers at the Urban
Institute. The paper, dubbed “Choice Deserts,” looks at how geography and academic
selectivity curb the impact of earnings data for students in Virginia.Inside Higher Ed, Dec. 16, 2016

DeVry Education Group and DeVry University agreed to settle a Federal Trade Commission
lawsuit regarding the for-profit institution's use of employment statistics in advertising. The
company will pay $49.4 million to the FTC and forgive $30.4 million in institutional
loans that were issued before Sept. 30, 2015. The for-profit will also forgive $20.2 million
in outstanding DeVry accounts receivable balances for former students. DeVry also
agreed to have specific data to support any future advertising related to graduate
outcomes and educational benefits.Inside Higher Ed, Dec. 16, 2016

Politics | Local, State, National

A coalition of nearly 200 school districts, higher-education institutions and other
organizations is urging state lawmakers to focus on early learning and college as
well as K-12 education in the upcoming legislative session. The Cradle Through College
Coalition’s call to the Legislature comes on the eve of its 2017 session, when lawmakers
plan to continue their ongoing debate over how to fully fund basic education. They’re
facing a 2018 deadline set in the 2012 McCleary decision. State lawmakers must also
come up with the state’s 2017-19 operating budget.The Seattle Times, Dec. 20, 2016

Members of the state’s Education Funding Task Force were supposed to discuss their
recommendations to fully fund public schools when they met Thursday in Olympia. Given
that those recommendations don’t exist yet, that proved a little tough. So the task
force focused instead on dissecting the K-12 education plan Gov. Jay Inslee put out
this week, with Republican members lobbing criticisms at some of the Democratic governor’s
latest ideas. The eight-member task force has until Jan. 9 — the first day of the
2017 legislative session — to come up with recommendations to solve a problem that
has plagued the state for years: How the state should take on the full costs of paying
teachers and other school employees.The News Tribune, Dec. 18, 2016

The way Washington provides early childhood education and programs for vulnerable
and at-risk kids would be dramatically realigned to try to deliver existing services
more efficiently, under a proposal from Gov. Jay Inslee. Inslee’s plan, which is included
in the 2017-19 budget he proposed this week, would create a new cabinet-level department,
merging the current Department of Early Learning with Child Protective Services, juvenile-justice
programs, foster-care services and other child-welfare programs currently administered
by the Department of Social and Health Services.The Seattle Times, Dec. 15, 2016